1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network communications, and more particularly to synchronized browse and chat functions on a computer network.
2. Description of Related Art
The location and exchange of data over computer networks is controlled by various network protocol. For example, the World Wide Web (hereinafter xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d) is a system of communications protocols that presents information in documents that are capable of being linked to other documents. The documents are stored in a distributed manner across the Internet on the networked computers, and are accessed using programs known as browsers.
The Web is a system of protocols exchanged between a host computer running an application, known as a server, that delivers Web documents, and a user""s computer, known as the client. Web documents are created using a markup language known as HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language. Hyperlinks are used to connect a document on one host computer to a document on another host computer. The following HTML paragraph is illustrative.
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Welcome to the home page of  less than B greater than  ichat, Inc.  less than /B greater than . We develop  less than A
HREF=xe2x80x9c. . . /products/index.htmlxe2x80x9d greater than software  less than /A greater than  that expands the
functionality and accessibility of real-time Internet chat systems.
The HTML tag xe2x80x9c less than A HREF=xe2x80x9d instructs the browser to create a link to a web page referenced by the embedded Uniform Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d), which is a type of address, and to use the word xe2x80x9csoftwarexe2x80x9d embedded between the tags xe2x80x9c greater than . . .  less than /A greater than xe2x80x9d as the hyperlinked word. The link may be a target, which is a word or phrase in another section of the same Web page; a relative link, which is another Web page within the current site, either forward or backward relative to the current page; or an external or absolute link, which is a Web page on another host.
The dominant transfer protocol in use on the Web is HTTP, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTP sits on top of TCP/IP and is a stateless protocol designed to transfer documents at a high rate of speed. As a stateless system, HTTP does not retain any information from one document transfer to the next. If additional documents are needed, each additional document must be transferred by opening a new HTTP connection, requesting the document, delivering the document, and closing the connection.
Although generally successful for many Web functions, the HTTP protocol is ineffective for enabling real-time functions such as chat over networks such as the Internet. However, chat is available over the Internet using the Internet Relay Chat protocol, or IRC. IRC uses the TCP/IP protocol in a client/server model. One IRC client initiates a channel by connecting to an IRC enabled server, which may or may not be on the same host as the Web server. Other clients join the channel by typing a join IRC command. The IRC server mediates the channel, passing each message to all channel members or to particular channel members, as determined by the originator of the message.
As initially implemented, IRC was of limited usefulness to users who wished to coordinate their chats with Web browsing. Some techniques have emerged for facilitating coordination of chats with browsing. In a technique generally known as integrated HTML chat, chat is incorporated into the HTML frame. The user receives an HTML page with an embedded chat window, types his or her reply to a message in the chat window, and sends the revised page back to the originating server. In another technique, a separate chat application such as IRC runs as a plug-in to the user""s browser and displays a chat window either on the side of or embedded into the browser window. In these examples, the chat and browser applications run independently of one another, relying on user interaction at particular points in time to achieve browse-chat coordination. Unfortunately, independence of operation causes the browser and chat applications to be generally uncoordinated, and the need for the user to coordinate their operation is inconvenient.
The present invention advantageously synchronizes real-time chat for the Internet/intranet with HTML Web browsers, and is applicable to on-line user groups, technical support, product marketing, entertainment and the creation of dynamic multimedia content. Web site administrators are able to combine product and service information on a site with the added benefit of Web tours, live forums and sales and technical support. Tour guides, human or automated, are able to educate and direct visitors to areas of value within a site, while continuing to chat. The guide may also leave the site and lead users to other sites of interest on the Web. Users are able to send and receive URLs as part of a regular conversation, and as in a browser the URLs are formatted as hyperlinks.
These and other advantages are variously achieved in the embodiments of the invention. For example, one embodiment of the invention is a method for synchronizing browse and chat functions on a computer network. The method comprises endowing a user with a first chat property and a first browser property, endowing the user with a second chat property in lieu of the first chat property, and endowing the user with a second browser property in lieu of the first browser property in response to the second chat property endowing step.